Colegrove v. Green

Summary

The Court affirmed dismissal of a challenge to Illinois congressional districts whose populations had become substantially unequal since their enactment. It held that the federal reapportionment statute did not require compactness, contiguity, or population equality, and that the requested relief presented a nonjusticiable political question because congressional apportionment was constitutionally committed to Congress and the political process. Justice Rutledge concurred in the result on equitable-discretion grounds, while Justice Black, joined by Justices Douglas and Murphy, would have found the claim justiciable and ordered relief against the unequal districts.